Daily Log for: March 11,
2002
We've been able to cross quite a few items off the "to-do" list lately,
but we also took a couple of giant steps backwards. First, the accomplishments.
My brother figured out how to get the window to fit properly in the right
door (I leave all the tough stuff for him to do ;-) I'm not sure what
he did, but it works ok now.
I was able to bend the input tube for the gas tank just enough to make
it work. It's still not perfect, but I was able to get the hose on
and tightened down and it doesn't look too bad.
I got the splash panels installed and sealed
I installed the body side trim. It looks great, but I put a couple
of marks in the paint, so I hope my brother-in-law can fix them up
Now, for the steps backwards. The engine was acting odd. It
would run fine for a couple of minutes, then it would start running real
rough and shaking badly. We got to checking things and found that the
number 2 exhaust valve was hanging wide open. So we took the head back
off, and it looks like all the valves are a little tight, so I dropped it
off at the machine shop to have the valve guides reamed out to proper tolerance.
It should be done by the weekend.
Then we decided to drop the front suspension off the car so we could remove
the oil pan and research the oil leaks we've been seeing. In the process,
we forgot to release the brake pipe from one of the clips that holds it to
the front cross member and bent it up pretty badly, so we may need to replace
it also. The pan gasket was completely wet, so we need to decide the
best way to seal it up.
Here's a shot of the stuck exhaust valve in the second cylinder. It's
the 4th valve from the right.
Here's a close up view of the stuck valve.
Here's a little trick I used to rivet the snaps to the body for mounting
the body trim. There's a hole in a piece of cardboard (I used an old
cereal box) just big enough for the snap to fit in it, then the cardboard
is taped to the body (Scotch masking tape of course...my cousin would throw
a fit if I used anything else, since he worked for 3M his whole career). This
keeps the rivet gun from marking up the body when the mandrel snaps off.
I wish I could take credit for this idea, but it's actually my brother's
idea.
Here's the front suspension laying on the garage floor after dropping
it off the car. You can see the bent brake pipe in the upper left
part of the picture, and the oily pan gasket laying on the floor.
Here's what it looks like after removing the head.
These next two shots were supposed to show how the car looks with the
body trim installed, but it doesn't show up too well.
